Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a sheet conveying apparatus that conveys a sheet and an image forming apparatus including the sheet conveying apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic method, a configuration that has a sheet conveying apparatus for conveying a sheet stored in a sheet feeding cassette to an image forming unit and forms an image on the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying apparatus is widely known. Such a sheet conveying apparatus is provided with a feeding roller as a rotating member that rotates by driving force transmitted from a driving source and picks up a sheet stored in the sheet feeding cassette and feeds the sheet to the image forming unit.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-174586 discloses a configuration in which drive is transmitted to a feeding roller by a driving mechanism having a ratchet mechanism to feed a sheet stored in a sheet feeding cassette. In such a configuration, while the sheet is fed toward the image forming unit, a state where gears transmitting the driving force from the driving source to the feeding roller mesh with each other is maintained, so that the feeding roller continues to rotate.
However, in the configuration of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-174586, even when the load between the sheet fed toward the image forming unit and the feeding roller increases during the feeding operation, the state where the gears transmitting the driving force mesh with each other is maintained, and therefore the following issues occur. That is, in order to eliminate the load generated between the feeding roller and the sheet, the driving source attempts to transmit excessive driving force toward the feeding roller, which may result in deformation of the gears.